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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam
The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.
Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.
Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!
Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.
Click here to report a problem with this page.
Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- dr.abdulhamid001@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "SMITH JOHNSON" (may be fake)
Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2016 20:07:26 -0700
Subject: A BUSINESS PROPOSAL FOR YOU
my name is Abdulhamid Saeed., am a banker here in UAE, there
was an amount in our bank that they will declared
unserviceable by our board if the rightful owner or someone
didn't claim it legally and i want to use this opportunity
to use this funds to invest in real estate business or any
profitable business I contacted you because i need someone
aboard to claim this funds legally and I will provide all
the information about the account and even introduce you to
the registered attorney that will handle it for us. Bear in
mind that this transaction is 100% risk free and must be
legal, if you can do it with me, then I will give you the
account details and the lawyer's information. I hope to hear
from you soon. But let's discuss via email -
dr.abdulhamid001@gmail.com Regards, ABDULHAMID
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Anti-fraud resources:
